McNair Evans

“There was no man that my father admired more than his father, and no one his father admired more than the man who raised him.” writes McNair Evans in the introduction of A Journal of Southern History, a wonderful project that avoids all the usual cliches and dives deep into the family’s history. “With tenderness of heart, warm humor, and deep love, my father met everyone as his equal. Working at factories and farms my family owned shaped my perception of the world in familial stability. […] Upon his death in November 2000, I was exposed to my father’s insolvency and looming debts. A series of devastating fires, bad crops, perpetual over-extension and high-interest loans were his legacy. Five generations of familial and financial stability fractured beneath me.”